Ford Exec: Japanese Hogging Hybrid Parts

[TSX69]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/09/20/bc.autos.summit.ford.hybrids.reut/index.html

Ford would offer more hybrids, COO says, if more parts were available.

September 20, 2005; Posted: 12:16 p.m. EDT (1616 GMT)

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. could be offering more hybrid vehicles if it weren't for the shortage of specialized components, partly due to the "predatory" approach taken by some Japanese automakers, Ford Chief Operating Officer Jim Padilla said Tuesday.

"It is a supply issue, and it's supply of several technologies," Padilla said at the Reuters Summit in Detroit. "The Japanese have shown a little bit of a predatory approach."

Company Chief Executive Bill Ford Jr. has said he wants more hybrids in the fleet of the world's third-biggest automaker, after trailing Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. with the fuel-efficient technology.

The Japanese automakers have been successful in cultivating an image as the leaders in environmental technology by offering a range of hybrid vehicles. Toyota plans to sell up to 250,000 units worldwide this year, mainly in North America.

Ford began offering its first hybrids with the Escape sport utility vehicle last autumn, lagging firstcomer Honda by five years. It has said it plans to build 20,000 units this year, with the addition of the Mercury Mariner SUV.

The No. 2 U.S. automaker gets battery packs for the hybrid system, which twins a gasoline engine to an electric motor and batteries to boost fuel economy, mainly from Japan's Sanyo Electric Co., and other parts from various suppliers, such as Toyota affiliate Aisin Seiki Co.

Toyota, which licenses part of its hybrid technology to Ford, has been a volume leader for the fuel-sipping vehicles, saying last week it would boost annual output of motors for hybrids to meet strong demand, mainly in North America.

"We are working with multiple suppliers and alternatives," Padilla said. "We recognize that the ramp-up phase is very critical for suppliers and for ourselves to get economies of scale."

Padilla didn't say how many more hybrids Ford would like to produce. But he noted that production and development costs needed to come down substantially for them to be viable, both for the manufacturer and consumers.

"You have to realize that hybrids on the market now go for a $3,000 to $3,500 premium, and that only covers a fraction of the costs," he said.

Asked if Ford was making any money on hybrid sales, he said: "I don't know if anyone is making money on them, and if they do, I think that would be a very interesting economic study."

Toyota has said for some time that its hybrids are profitable, but declines to disclose by how much.

As another alternative to large, gas-guzzling SUVs, Padilla said Ford also had in the pipeline several so-called "crossover" vehicles, which generally get better mileage than truck-based SUVs. Ford is second in the U.S. market for crossovers after Honda.

[Junkster]

They have no excuse... They didn't invest in the technology and they are paying for it now by being on the leashes of Toyota.

Bad, Ford... very bad.

Junkster, who thinks they should have focused on hybrids instead of the Excursion

[NeoChaser]

They have no excuse... They didn't invest in the technology and they are paying for it now by being on the leashes of Toyota.

Bad, Ford... very bad.

Junkster, who thinks they should have focused on hybrids instead of the Excursion

coun't have said it better.

[nachob]

They have no excuse... They didn't invest in the technology and they are paying for it now by being on the leashes of Toyota.

Bad, Ford... very bad.

Junkster, who thinks they should have focused on hybrids instead of the Excursion

Amen! "F' that buffoon. If ford should have spent some of that money they were making on gas guzzlers on new technology. Screw them for their short sighted, selfish ways. Too bad Ford and Chevy. I have seen this in the past. In the eighties Honda, Toyota and Nissan were crushing GM because of high fuel costs. So Chevy spends Millions and millions on an ad campaing....heartbeat of America, buy American.....BS. How about they spend the ad money on making better more fuel efficient cars so we don't have to open up the last of our pristine preserves and coast lines to oil drilling so bozos can commute in Hummers and Expeditions.

2 cents.

[lokman]

I almost couldn't believe they said that. This is competition at work - if Ford were on the other end they'd tell Toyota that it was they're own fault. Sorry Ford, I don't have a lot of sympathy for your situation, but at least you're on the right track.

[TSX69]

Ford Poised for Hybrid Push (http://www.cnn.com/2005/AUTOS/09/21/ford_hybrid/index.html)
Report: Auto maker plans fuel-efficient versions of half its models, wants to produce 250K by '10.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Ford Motor Co. plans to speed up its hybrid strategy and offer the fuel-efficient gas-electric cars on half its models in the next five years, according to a published report.

The Detroit News reported that an announcement on the hybrid push is due Wednesday from Chairman and CEO William Ford Jr.

Ford plans to ramp up hybrid production from several thousand this year to 250,000 by 2010, the newspaper reported.

Ford started selling its first hybrid vehicle, a version of its compact sport/utility vehicle Escape, in August 2004, and a hybrid version of its twin, the Mercury Mariner, in July this year, a year earlier than originally planned.

William Ford has been a longtime champion of environmental causes, but the nation's No. 2 auto manufacturer's main source of profit in recent years has been pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles that get poor gas mileage. But record gasoline prices and concerns that oil prices could stay high in the long term have auto manufacturers and car buyers taking a closer look at fuel economy of vehicles.

The U.S. auto manufacturers have trailed their Japanese counterparts in development and sales of hybrid vehicles.

Even with the new hybrid push by Ford, it won't necessarily close the gap with competitors such as Toyota Motor Co., which announced at the Frankfurt auto show last week that it intends to offer hybrid versions of all of its models, although it did not give a time frame to reach that target. Toyota also said it expects to make as many as 400,000 hybrid vehicles in 2006.

Ford Chief Operating Officer Jim Padilla complained to reporters Tuesday that it could be offering more hybrid vehicles if it weren't for the shortage of specialized components, and he blamed some Japanese auto manufacturers for the shortage.

"It is a supply issue, and it's supply of several technologies," Padilla said at the Reuters Summit in Detroit. "The Japanese have shown a little bit of a predatory approach."
http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/3078/av10257cf.gif

[AcidLotus]

keep circling your problems ford.

[TSX 'R' US]

:bawling: <-- Ford

just stop it

[TSX69]

http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/23/news/fortune500/ford_energy_summit/index.htm

Ford CEO writes Bush for energy summit
Bill Ford Jr. says the president's energy policy is 'only a beginning,' wants more done.
September 23, 2005: 9:57 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Ford Motor Co. CEO Bill Ford Jr. is asking the White House to convene a summit to discuss the nation's energy issues and the auto industry's role in finding a solution.

Ford wrote a letter to President Bush in which he said he supported the Energy Policy Act that Bush recently signed into law, but there's even more that should be done. The letter was released by the company's Washington office.

The letter said tragedies like Hurricane Katrina underscore the need for businesses to help government explore long-term solutions.

"The new energy law is a strong foundation for these efforts. But this is only the beginning," said the letter, which was dated Thursday.

"As you know, none of us can do this alone. There is no one magic bullet. But if we all work together -- automakers, suppliers, fuel providers, consumers and state and federal government -- I am confident we can overcome the great energy challenges facing our country," Ford wrote.

Ford, who came to the top job at his family's auto business with a reputation as a committed environmentalist, announced plans this week to step up production of Ford (Research) vehicles powered by fuel-efficient hybrid engines, which combine a gasoline engine and an electric motor to improve fuel efficiency.

The auto industry successfully fought to delete increases in fuel economy from the recently passed energy legislation.

While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently proposed improved fuel economy requirements for light trucks like sport/utility vehicles and pickups, environmentalists charged the changes would allow Ford and General Motors (Research) to have less improvements in fuel economy than some competitors.

White House spokesman Allen Abney told the Detroit News, which first reported the news of Ford's letter, that the Bush administration had not yet reviewed the letter and couldn't offer any specific response to the call for a energy summit. But he said President Bush has made energy a top priority.

Not everyone is optimistic about the chances of success of such an energy summit.

David Friedman, research director of clean vehicles for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, told the paper that previous Bush administration task forces on energy ended up downplaying conservation in national energy policy. Friedman said he is disappointed Ford had not made any specific commitment to higher fuel economy standards.

"This is more of the Bill Ford that we expected to see and have been hoping to see," Friedman told the paper. "But you've got to take some concrete steps, too."

Eron Shosteck, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, told the paper the industry lobbying group had not yet reviewed Ford's letter, but that automakers are all fiercely committed to doing their part to achieve United States energy independence.

[bob shiftright]

:bawling: <-- Ford

just stop it

..He can't buy enough batteries for his cars. Henry Ford just turned over in his grave.


The Ford River Rouge Complex may be the world's most famous auto plant. In 1915 Henry Ford bought 2000 acres along the Rouge River west of Detroit, intending to use the site only to make coke, smelt iron, and build tractors. Over the next dozen years, however, the company turned the Rouge, as it became known, into the most fully integrated car manufacturing facility in the world. By 1927, when Ford shifted its final assembly line from Highland Park to the Rouge, the complex included virtually every element needed to produce a car: blast furnaces, an open hearth mill, a steel rolling mill, a glass plant, a huge power plant and, of course, an assembly line. Ninety miles of railroad track and miles more of conveyor belts connected these facilities, and the result was mass production of unparalleled sophistication and self-sufficiency. "By the mid-1920's," wrote historian David L. Lewis, "the Rouge was easily the greatest industrial domain in the world" and was "without parallel in sheer mechanical efficiency." None of the buildings that comprise this National Historic Landmark have remained unchanged over the years, a reflection of continuing developments in production techniques. Yet many of the complex's most important buildings still stand: the 1917 Dearborn Assembly Plant, still houses the main assembly line; the 1921 Power House continues to supply energy to both the plant and parts of the surrounding community. Today River Rouge turns out a car every few seconds.

[curls]

"It is a supply issue, and it's supply of several technologies," Padilla said at the Reuters Summit in Detroit. "The Japanese have shown a little bit of a predatory approach."

A: If you snooze, you lose.

B: It's a cutthroat business motherfu**er!!

A=B